What Happens When You Sit on One of the Danish Arts Foundation’s Committees for Craft and Design?
Do you gain professional insights you wouldn’t otherwise come across? Do you deepen your understanding of the field when stepping out of the workshop and into a helicopter perspective? Or do you become frustrated by the abundance of strong applications and the limited funds available?
All of these are valid questions—and the answers are just as relevant. This is the reality for those serving on either the project funding committee or the grant committee for craft and design.
New Structure and the Closure of Danish Crafts
The Danish Arts Foundation’s committees have undergone several changes in name and structure over the years. The current division into a project funding committee and a grant committee was only introduced in 2014. Prior to that, it was known as Statens Kunstråd (the Danish Arts Council), with a three-member committee serving three-year terms.
At that time, the institution Danish Crafts was responsible for promoting Danish craft and design internationally—a dedicated initiative under the Ministry of Culture. Today, it’s nearly impossible to find information about Danish Crafts, despite its role as a powerful and influential force between 1999 and 2013.
Danish Crafts was officially shut down in 2013 after facing criticism from within the field. One of its critics was Peder Rasmussen, who chaired the three-member committee during the 2011–2013 term.
Peder Rasmussen:
‘Danish Crafts benefitted far too few people. It was often the same individuals who received funding and participated in the MINDCRAFT exhibitions in Milan, where a large portion of the budget went to flights, transport, insurance, and the exhibition venue in Milan—at sky-high prices. On top of that came per diems, hotel stays, and the cost of office rentals at Charlottenborg and later Amagertorv. I was highly critical of it.
The other committees within the Danish Arts Foundation had already been reorganized into project funding and grant committees. Moreover, the international media coverage that Danish Crafts cited as crucial to its legitimacy consisted mostly of lifestyle magazines, and participants didn’t gain much in terms of international networks. The leadership at the Danish Arts Foundation could see that it didn’t really add up, so Danish Crafts was shut down and replaced by a project funding committee and a grant committee. That was the right thing to do.’
